Market research is an organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. Market research can include social and opinion research performed to systematically gather and interpret information about individuals or organizations using statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making. Viewed as an important component of business strategy, market research can be a key factor to obtain advantage over competitors. Market research provides important information to identify and analyze market need, market size, and competition.
Quantitative marketing research is the application of quantitative research techniques to the field of marketing. It has roots in both the positivist view of the world, and the modern marketing viewpoint that marketing is an interactive process in which both the buyer and seller reach a satisfying agreement on the “four Ps” of marketing: Product, Price, Place (location), and Promotion. As a social research method, it typically involves the construction of questionnaires and scales. People who respond (respondents) are asked to complete the survey. Marketers use the information so obtained to understand the needs of individuals in the marketplace, and to create strategies and marketing plans.
In market research, projects are defined for supplying a market research sample to a customer having a survey that needs to be completed by panelists having certain targeted attributes. Generally speaking, a project has a deadline for survey completion, and a set of criteria to fulfill in terms of the targeted attributes. An example target attribute for a survey might be “includes owners of vehicle model X,” thus defining a requirement that 100% of panelists have this attribute. Another example target attribute for a survey might be “excludes drivers over age 40,” thus defining a requirement that 0% of panelists have the attribute of being a driver over age 40.
On the other hand, other criteria for a project may involve quotas for certain demographics, such as 45%-55% male and 45%-55% female. These demographic quotas help prevent skew in the results, and are grouped together. For example, the aforementioned set of demographics defines a quota group for the project, with the % male and % female panelists each being a quota cell in that quota group. Another quota group might be defined as 45%-55% eastern US residents and 45%-55% western US residents. These quota groups may be independent of one another, in which case the customer does not mind if 100% of the male respondents are from the Eastern US, etc. Alternatively, the quota cells of a group may be “nested” (AKA “interlocked”), in which case two groups each having two quota cells may be replaced by a single quota group having four nested quota cells as follows: 22.5%-27.5% male, eastern US residents; 22.5%-27.5% female, eastern US residents; 22.5%-27.5% male, western US residents; 22.5%-27.5% female, western US residents. A project may have multiple quota groups, some of which may have quota cells nested therein.
The task of supplying the sample for a project has previously been addressed by using a relational database to find panelists having attribute values that match the values of the targeted attributes of a project. In this sense, panelists may be potential respondents who have enrolled as panelists and therefore have one or more of their attribute values recorded in the relational database. It is envisioned that panelists may be members of one or more proprietary market research access panels, or may have been sourced elsewhere, such as dynamically sourced through a network of website properties or from a third party access panel. It is also envisioned that panelists may be newly enrolling or not yet enrolled panelists. For a particular project, the panelists having the attribute values are then sent emails that provide a link to a survey associated with that project. A panelist may respond to such an email after that panelist is no longer needed for that project. In the past, such a panelist may then be matched to another project having a high acceptance rate, in the same or similar way that newly enrolled panelists are handled. However, it would be advantageous to match return panelists or newly enrolled panelists to projects having relatively low acceptance rates, thus making more effective use of the panelists. It would also be advantageous to make more efficient use of panelists who fail to qualify for a survey by rerouting such panelists to another survey. The present disclosure is directed toward providing such a solution.